Moonlight
by seren-canis
Summary: It had all began one afternoon during Transfiguration, on Halloween day. James and Lily are forced to spend a detention together, but James is distracted.


It had all began one afternoon during Transfiguration, on Halloween day. Halloween was always a rambunctious affair at Hogwarts, with pranks being pulled left, right and centre, and students walking around in the most gruesome, ostentatious costumes they could create. (Lily even remembered how one year, James Potter and Sirius Black had landed themselves detention for their repulsive zombie costumes, complete with open wounds, hanging tendrils and the smell of rotting flesh, scaring the first years witless).

Some of the professors, like Flitwick, seemed to join in with the holiday spirit, letting minor pranks slide and even rewarding house points to the best costumes. But for others, like McGonagall, Halloween made them even more stern and uptight, as though letting any small offence slip might descend the whole castle into chaos.

And so that Halloween afternoon, when Lily herself was on edge after a day of being constantly on the lookout for unsuspecting pranks, when James Potter was trying in vain to get her attention, with chants of "Lily….Lily….Lily! Look here, Lily, ….I want to show you something….Lily…._Lily!_", she snaps.

"WHAT!" she roars, turning around in her chair and glaring at him.

"Miss Evans!" Professor McGonagall scowls at her from the front desk, "I have had enough of this class' behaviour this afternoon! Let's hope a night of detention will teach you how to behave in my classroom!"

"What, but that's not fair!" James suddenly says, almost standing up in his desk.

"Well, then, how would you like to accompany Miss Evans in tonight's detention, Mister Potter?" says Professor McGonagall, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she looks at James, "Both of you, the Trophy Room, tonight at 8 o clock."

Lily can see James is about so say something else, but McGonagall cuts across him "- and make sure to bring cleaning equipment."

James slumps in his chair and turns to look at his friends anxiously, a look of frantic apology on his face. Lily doesn't think much of this at the time, merely slumping in her own seat and glowering to herself, but later on this look of fear that he wouldn't be spending the night with his friends would take on much more meaning.

*

That night, they are deep into the gruelling, monotonous task of cleaning of the silent, musty Trophy Room. It has slanted tower windows, which are set high in the walls and has swirls of dust floating in the shafts of light that shine down. The many, musty glass cases reflect them back oddly in the distorted light and the floor feels cold and wet. After half an hour of silence, in which they hadn't spoken much more than mutually grumbling remarks, Lily stops scrubbing, looks at James and asks:

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" James turns his head away from the window, his face bathed in a curious half-silver shadow.

"Checking out the window," she says.

"I…I'm not,"

Lily sighs. "You're not really that worried about missing the Halloween feast, are you? I thought you and Black knew how to get into the kitchens, anyway? Oh no, wait, you have some big prank planned, is that it?"

"No, I…" James looks distracted, the silver light glinting of his metal frames and shadowing his features, "I just have to go. I _really_ have to go."

Lily stops scrubbing the floor, her wrists resting on the worn wooden brush and looks up at him. James looks edgy and distracted, and not the usual mix of excitement and happy apprehension that she is used to seeing before one of he and his friend's pranks. James looks restless and unhappy, checking his watch, checking the window and even checking Lily when he thinks she is concentrating on polishing the faded, flagstone floor. This is the most quiet and most still Lily has ever seen him. This is not James Potter waiting for a prank, Lily can see that. This is James Potter waiting for a disaster.

Lily sighs again and continues scrubbing. All evening James has been like this. Usually he would pounce upon any opportunity to merely talk to Lily, never mind spend an entire evening with her alone. But as Lily looks up through her fringe, she doesn't she an eager, jubilant James Potter waiting to clumsily flirt with her or list off the many reasons she should go out with him. No, she sees a worried, anxious, afraid boy sitting on the flagstone floor, washed in the fine light of the tall windows.

After a while, Lily asks, "So, what is it?"

James looks up at her curiously.

"Oh, come on, it isn't just anything that turns James Potter into a worrisome little first-year," Lily jokes.

When James doesn't reply, Lily pulls her knees underneath her and sits down. She asks in a voice free from jibe, "Where do you have to be?"

"I….nowhere," he answers, his voice laced with preoccupation.

"I could come with you,"

"No," James snaps his head up and looks her straight in her eyes, all attention on her now, and all serious expression on his face, "No, you couldn't."

"Okay, okay, I was only offering," says Lily, faking offence, when in all reality she is shaken by the severity of which James' words are spoken.

They spend the rest of the evening in silence, broken only by the bristle of the ancient scrub-brushes on tiles and the scratching of rusty trophies getting gleamed.

After a while, Lily stands, stretches and says, "I'm going to the bathroom. Tell Professor McGonagall if she comes to check on us. Won't be long."

And with that she walks towards the door without a backwards glance, leaving behind a buzzing James Potter who was already on his feet and grabbing his wand.

*

When Lily returns, James is gone.

"Shit!" she mutters to herself, sprinting forward and checking around the corners of the Trophy Room just in case he is still here. Her wand clatters and she picks it up off the oak table and she runs out through the open door she just entered, without a backwards glance, determined to find out where James is going.

*

Luckily for Lily, the fifth floor corridor that leads down from the Trophy Room they had both just been occupying runs straight past the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Excuse me," says Lily breathlessly, skidding up to the painting, "has a boy just entered Gryffindor Tower? Dark hair, glasses, normally has a big cocky grin on his face?"

"Are you referring to James Potter, my dear? Why, he just went that way," says the Fat Lady, gesturing towards the north staircase.

"Thank you!" breathes Lily, already turning to leave.

"Anytime, my dear," says the Fat Lady with a fond smile, "Any occasion that James Potter isn't causing havoc in my common room is an occasion to be broadcast."

And with a grateful, if forced, smile, Lily rushes towards the north staircase, feet clattering and heart racing as she heads towards the Entrance Hall.

*

Lily's heart is still pounding as she slows down and weaves through the long corridors and the shadows cast by the overhead windows.

Something isn't right, she knows it.

James Potter's behaviour is as predictable as a Shakespearean villain's; he is overzealous and eager with Lily, crass and comfortable with his friends, sure and very selective of his answers in class, and very, very Gryffindor around the Slytherins. Always furiously loyal and just ever-so-slightly thoughtlessly reckless, that is.

Lily thought James' behaviour was even more predictable during Halloween. He and his friends would spend the day in ridiculous costumes, (this year it had been a pirate for Sirius, some kind of Victorian vampire for Remus, a blood-soaked butcher for Peter and, Lily rolls her eyes at remembering, Professor Dumbledore for James), being boisterous and bursting with excitement. This would inevitably climax with some ridiculously childish prank during the Halloween Feast, usually, but not strictly reserved to, the Slytherin table.

But today was different. Up until he had been given detention by Professor McGonagall , James had been his usual overzealous self. Actually, now that Lily thought about it, James and has friends _had_ been a little quieter than usual, this year. Now that she thought carefully, they had gone about the day with an air of nervous apprehension amongst them, a gloom despite the holiday celebrations. Remus Lupin, in particular, seemed weary and worn out by the festivities. But when McGonagall had finally snapped and declared James' night of detention cleaning the Trophy Room, James' despair seemed to snap, had he had turned to his friends with a look of distressed apology. As Lily climbs down the steps into the Entrance Hall, past the still buzzing Great Hall humming with students happy voices, it is this look of franticness and genuine worry that makes her pick up her pace.

As Lily bursts into the night air and the pitch black grounds, it isn't just the usual Halloween magic, the air that always seem to makes the night hum with possibilities, or even the looming full moon overhead that causes her panic; it is something else entirely that makes her gasp and feel a steely fear that chills her to her bones.

It is the sight of James running straight into the Forbidden Forest.

*

She crosses the grounds as fast as she can, feet thundering on the soft grass under the starlit sky. But by the time she reaches the edge of the forest, James is long gone.

Without a second though she bounds into the forest, her only thought James' whereabouts and not even giving a flickering thought for her own safety. She thinks of all the creatures that inhabit this forest, of all the howling monsters and the vicious beasts. She thinks of the numerous lessons they have had during Care Of Magical Creatures about the dangers of the forest, of the warnings during the opening feasts from Professor Dumbledore, of the late night roars she can sometimes hear from her room in Gryffindor Tower, the ones that make her shudder and send ice through her veins.

As Lily runs through the shadows of the dark, looming trees, all these frantic thoughts swim through her mind and surge down into her legs, urging her on.

She runs.

*

She slows down as she reaches a clearing. The trees here are incredibly tall, but there are gaps enough between them to let the light through and to wash the clearing in a palette of pale, grey moonlight.

Lily is so deep into the forest now the castle is no longer visible. She has to be careful to remember which direction she has come from. As she timidly walks into the clearing, twigs snap beneath her feet and soft moss cushions her footfalls.

There is no sign of James. Thankfully there is no sign of any other type of creatures either, save for a few rabbits.

As she walks into the middle of the clearing she holds her wand aloft and sees the huge tree roots that rest on the slight, sand coloured banks reflect in the blue light of her wand tip. She walks forward until she is in the middle of the clearing and turns around and around, casting blue light on the huge trunks and trying to see into the darkness beyond. There is no sign of James. The silence hangs in the air like a tangible weight. All is still and quiet.

Suddenly, she cries out as a small brown rat scurries across her foot.

"Lily!"

She turns around to see James stepping out of the shadows. His clothes are rumpled and his eyes are bright. "Get out of here!"

"James!" Lily cries, "What's going on? What are you do-"

"Get out of here, now!" James voice is stern and panicked. "Lily, you need to-"

Suddenly, his expression changes and terror spreads over his features, widening his eyes. "LILY, RUN!"

Lily spins around to see what James is looking at. And is confronted by a monster.

A wolf gallops into the clearing.

It is tall and lean, with gleaming teeth and gleaming eyes. It's paws are as big as Lily's head, and she's sure it could snap her neck in half with one bite of it's ferocious jaw. It pads gently into the clearing, it's silver fur glinting blue in the light of the full moon, it's huge paws making no sound as it moves it's enormous body over the soft ground. As it steps nearer Lily can see it is much, much too big to be a regular wolf. With a sickening drop of her stomach and a rising panic in her throat, with a glance to the full moon overhead, she realises with horror that it is a _werewolf_.

The werewolf raises its head and sniffs the air. It notices Lily then, who is frozen with fear, and lowers it's head, it's body, it's ears, and lets out a growl. The sound reverberates through the air, louder than Lily thought was possible, vibrating her bones and filling her with fear. She can't tear her gaze away from the wolf's glaring, amber eyes.

Suddenly something gallops up alongside it, a smaller black wolf, that skids in front of the large grey wolf and faces it. It whines and creeps towards the large wolf, licking its muzzle. Upon a closer look, Lily realises it's not a wolf at all, but a large black dog. The wolf ignores the dog and fixes it's gaze on Lily, snarling and revealing it's jagged white teeth. The dog whines again.

Suddenly, the wolf leaps towards her. Lily screams and tries to cover her face, and as she does something gallops over her head. A magnificent stag lands in front of her, hooves clambering as it lands on the earth, and stands proudly. It raises it's head high and it's huge antlers filter the incoming moonlight over Lily's head.

The wolf growls again but the stag waves it's heavy head, causing the felt antlers to glint in the shafts of light that stream through the trees. It glares at the wolf, daring it to come forwards. The wolf snarls again, but the stag staggers forward and raises it's front legs in defiance. The wolf seems to understand, and with a snarl, turns and lopes away, disappearing from sight.

Lily is shaking. She's fallen to the floor, the branches digging into her knees, and she stares up at the huge stag, eye wide with fright. It walks towards her and for some reason she backs away, frantically afraid.

She stag seems to look at her with sad, alarmed eyes and suddenly something happens.

As it steps towards her, it shimmers and shifts with a golden glaze, until suddenly, James Potter is walking towards her.

Lily gasp. "James! I…you…."

"Lily, you need to get out of here, now," James voice is shaking, "before he comes back. I'll try and keep him away, but you need to run."

"James, were you….were you the stag? I- I don't understand…" Lily finds she is trembling. She tries to stand and James helps lift her up. He nudges her out of the clearing.

"Go, now!"

"James-"

"GO!"

Lily stumbles away, eyes staring at James in disbelief and concern. She doesn't want to leave him, but she knows how dangerous it was for her to be there. She sees the black dog watching her intently as she stumbles away. James stands besides it, eyes bright in the darkness, face pale.

When she's left the clearing she begins to run, branches and bracken whipping past her as she sprints, and just as she thinks she's going to make it she trips, stumbles, and falls. She falls over a rock and her head smashes into the ground, causing blood to gush over her face and her vision to swim. She feels light and dizzy, and the stars ahead dance in the black sky. She lays there a moment, waiting for her head to stop spinning, when suddenly she hears it.

A low growl and soft padding. Drawn by the smell of her blood, the wolf had returned.

Lily simply stares up at in in wide-eyed terror, unable to move. The wolf draws back it's lips, exposing it's huge, sharp canines and crouches low. It roars, an unnatural sound a normal wolf would never be able to produce, a sound which shakes Lily's eardrum and already spinning head. It prepares to pounce, but just as it does the stag returns and crashes into it's side. Lily watches in horrified fascination as they clash and fight. The world grows dimmer as the blood streams from her head and the edges of her vision grow dark. The moss she has landed on feels softer and softer by the second, and she just before she drifts away, as she watches the wolf pin the helpless stag to the ground and threatens to tear out it's throat, she hears the far off, eerie howl of another wolf.

The everything turned black.

*

When Lily awakes, everything is quite. She sits up, a move she immediately regrets as a sharp pain pounds her head. She looks around and sees the wall-high windows, lined beds and white curtain rails, rand realises that she is in the hospital wing. It is still night time and moonlight falls in bars across the hospital bed. Lily looks up at the heavy, round moon and with a fresh intensity the memories of the last few hours come flooding back.

"James!" she breathes to herself, remembering the majestic stag that protected her in the night forest.

A groan comes from the bed besides her. With a skip of her heart, Lily realises it is James, his messy black hair splayed over the white pillow. She rushes out of her bed and over to his.

"James! James, are you okay?" she whispers, kneeling besides him.

His eyes flutter open and he smiles when he realises it is her talking. "Lily…you're okay."

She laughs with relief. "Well of course I am, I had you protecting me didn't I? Are _you_ okay?"

He sits up, his back against the pillow. "Now that I can see you're fine, I've never felt better." He smiles up at her.

Lily would have usually rolled her eyes at such hyperbolical declarations, but it would be a lie to say the last few hours hadn't changed her view on James Potter.

She looks at him seriously, green eyes glinting. "You saved my life."

Lily sees his awkwardly shrug with one shoulder and ruffle the back of his hair self-consciously. "I was just doing what anyone would do."

She notices the thick, white bandage wrapped around his wrist and the scratches on his face. Lily shifts from her position from the side of the bed and sits on his bed gently. She looks James in the eyes and asks gently, but affirmatively.

"James…what happened?"

For a moment, Lily sees hesitation on James' face. But the he sighs and lifts his head to look at her. Lily reaches out her hand and gently touches the side of James' face.

"Tell me."

And so he does.

He explains, in solemn detail, how Remus Lupin, their quiet and caring friend, was a werewolf. Lily gasps at this, her hands clutching her mouth, but resists the urge to remark and lets James carry on. He explains how they, he, Sirius and Peter, had discovered this secret in second year and proceeded to spend the next three years learning to become animagii.

"You're an animagus?" Lily asks in disbelief.

James nods earnestly. "But you can't tell anyone!" he rushes, "nobody knows."

"I won't, I promise. And I won' tell anyone about….about Remus either," says Lily.

James looks at her gratefully.

Lily looks out the window for a moment, at the glowing, round moon. "Poor Remus…it's - it's so horrible."

"I know," says James solemnly, "that's why we _had_ to help him."

James explains that his animagus form was the stag, Peter's the brown rat, and Sirius' the black dog. He explains how it is safe for them to be around Remus in his wolf form as werewolves hardly ever attack other animals, and how they wouldn't get infected even if they were bitten.

"Hence this," says James, wincing as he lifts his bloodied, bandaged arm.

"So after I sent you away," he continues, "the wolf reappeared and started running in your direction, so I chased after it. Then I saw you had fallen over and tried to fight him off, but he was too powerful, the smell of human blood had made him too strong, but luckily Padfoot thought to drive the wolf away."

"Padfoot?"

James grins, "Sirius. Anyway, he ran off and called to the wolf to try and get him away from you. The wolf and Padfoot really do have this amazing bond, I think it's a canine thing. Anyway, lucky he did since the bloody wolf had me pinned! I thought I was a goner!" he laughs, though Lily notes he doesn't look like he thinks it's particularly funny.

"So, when the wolf was off with Sirius, I managed to get you here, to safety," he sighs and looks serious again. "And so now you know why it was so important that I didn't have detention tonight."

Lily looks at James curiously, trying to take in everything he has just told her. Remus was a werewolf. That huge, ferocious, amber-eyed wolf was Remus. And they were animagii. The rat, the dog, and the brave, brave stag. James had saved her life.

Suddenly, James says "You should see him, Lily, when we're not there….the wolf, it hurts Remus so bad," James voice is tight, as though he may be fighting back tears, "It has no one else to take it out on, no one to control him. We make it better for him, if only a little bit."

"You did all that, for Remus?" Lily asks, gently placing her hand on his.

James nods, raising his head to look her straight in the eyes. "We had to."

James skin is pale in the moonlight, his hair glints black, and his eyes are bright with loyalty. His face looks frightened, as though afraid Lily wouldn't accept his friend, as though daring Lily to challenge his actions.

"James…," she says, smiling, "that is the bravest, stupidest and sweetest thing I have ever heard." And she kisses him.

James doesn't move for a moment, clearly not expecting the kiss, but in a heartbeat he is kissing back. They kiss gently and sweetly, both sitting cross-legged on the bed, the light from the moon shining them bright.

After a while they pull back and Lily laughs gently at the big, disbelieving grin on James' face.

"I…is this happening?" he asks.

Lily laughs again. "Don't get used to it, Potter."

He looks crestfallen.

She grins. "Or maybe, you should…"

And he grins as she kisses him again.

*

END. 


End file.
